Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Fourth Estate’ On Showtime Takes Viewers Behind The Scenes At The New York Times

Seven years ago, a documentary named Page One took an inside look at The New York Times, with the late media reporter David Carr emerging as one of the movie’s most intriguing characters. But that was when we still has a president who, while not exactly trusting of the media, didn’t publicly attack it either. But now that Donald Trump is president, how is the Times covering the craziness? That’s the topic of the new docuseries The Fourth Estate. Will it put the Times in a good light?

THE FOURTH ESTATE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “January 20, 2017. Day 1.” Dark clouds roll over the White House and the Capitol. Donald Trump is shown giving the oath of office during his presidential inauguration. Back in New York, in the offices of The New York Times, executive editor Dean Baquet watches the oath with senior staff. “What a story. What a fucking story,” he says. “Let’s go.”

The Gist: The first year of the Trump administration has seen newsworthy events happen almost on an hourly basis, whether he’s attacking the media, tweeting out about conspiracies or witch hunts, some high-ranking official leaves or is fired, or lord knows what. The Fourth Estate goes behind the scenes of the “failing” (according to Trump) New York Times, who like everyone else in media, tries to wrap their minds around how to cover the Trump presidency, given that he conducts himself like no other president has before.

The first episode concentrates on how the paper handled the administraton’s chaotic first 100 days, which consisted of controversies both silly (Trump challenging the crowd size reports at the inauguration) and serious (the allegations his campaign colluded with Russian government officials). While we see the goings on at the paper’s main newsroom in midtown Manhattan — mostly concentrating around Baquet, with a few side interviews with media reporter Jim Ruttenberg and others — the majority of the episode shows the action in the paper’s Washington bureau, led by bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller.

From the insight given by Maggie Haberman, who joined the Times in 2015 after covering Trump for both New York tabloids for close to two decades, to the investigative reporting of a number of reporters, we see the bureau’s reaction when Trump calls the press the “enemy of the people,” when the Washington Post scoops them on the Russia story, and how they scramble to cover Trump’s first address to Congress — and how New York decided to rewrite their lede to the story.

Maggie Haberman talks to President Trump.(Photo: Showtime)

Our Take: I generally write these reviews in the “royal we” format, but after watching this first episode, I knew that wouldn’t be possible. Why? Because I’ve freelanced for the Times in the past, even been in their offices a few times. I know a number of people who work there or at least freelance for them on a regular basis. But I gotta say this: I’m not sure how intrigued I am at watching a bunch of exhausted reporters react to Donald Trump.

On first blush, a look behind the scenes at the “paper of record” promises to be fascinating, especially covering a president who throws out the term “fake news” for any story that’s not in his favor. And director Liz Garbus was smart to couch the first episode within Trump’s first 100 days. But what we end up seeing is a lot of staring at screens, a lot of grumbling and tiredness, and — except for Baquet — a lot of whiteness.

Executive editor Dean Baquet(Photo: T.J. Kirkpatrick/Showtime)

It pains me to say this, but it was dismaying to see not one person of color on the Trump beat at the Times. It feels like the folks at the Times are determined to fight back the tide of distrust Trump and his loyalists have in the media, as seen by one reporter’s trip to the uber-conservative CPAC conference, where the president dropped his “enemy of the people” remark. But it would have been more interesting to see the perspectives from reporters on his immigration stance or his blanket assessments of the inner cities, or any of the other things that have made this the most divisive administration ever. But all we see is reporters pissed at Trump about how little he respects the press… but has no problem calling Haberman to complain about Democrats not supporting the Republican health bill in Congress.

It just feels like the job of being a Washington-bureau reporter in the era of Trump is completely exhausting, and we get a little bit of insight into the personal lives of Haberman and others, but what we really see are people trying to keep up with a fire hose of stories and information, trying to decipher what’s important and what’s bullshit, never seeing their families, and hurtling towards some serious burnout. Glenn Thrush, who is the White House correspondent at the time, talks about being an “adrenaline junkie” as he crowds into a military transport plane with other WH reporters. Haberman thought her kids would get their mom back after Trump lost, but now that he’s president, she feels exhausted and wants to be with her family, but “I don’t really know how to stop at this point.” Oy.

Parting Shot: On April 17, Day 88, the Washington bureau watches Donald and Melania Trump host the annual Easter Egg Hunt, with Melania talking about sunny days ahead. Trump, as is his wont, makes an inappropriately serious speech about American power while a person in a bunny suit stands by, likely wishing he or she never took the gig. Meanwhile, one of the reporters types out a story about Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Sleeper Star: Reporter Matthew Rosenberg gets a long look in this first episode, as we see him wake up his two young kids super early in the morning, feed his daughter a doughnut for breakfast and put on the news at her request (much to his son’s dismay). Judging the fact that we see kids’ faces blurred out in the cubicles of many of the participants, Rosenberg was likely one of the few reporters who let the filmmakers into his home life. He’s divorced, and only seems to glancingly regret at how chaotic it is to juggle his responsibilities as a single dad and his crushing schedule as a reporter. His story will be interesting to follow.

Our Call: Stream It, but only because of the importance of the subject matter. Hopefully we will see some more diversity and differing perspectives in upcoming episodes.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.